International Graduate Conference on Science, Humanities and Engineering 2011 (IGCSHE2011)

The purpose of this study was to develop a framework for designing an Integrated Manufacturing System which canlive and interact through research environment special conditions. A successful manufacturing system designs mustbe capable of satisfying the strategic objectives of a company. The current manufacturing systems especially thosesystems used in foodstuff enterprises within this research environment, Palestine, suffer from many problems anddifficulties.Both qualitative and quantitative research methodology was utilized in this study. The qualitative research dataconsisted of three in-depth interviews with research sample companies’ managers. The quantitative research datawas gathered with the aid of a online survey. Fifty two surveys were sent to foodstuff enterprises in Palestine andthirty six responses were received. The response rate was sixty nine percent.The results of the interviews and survey revealed a high level of weaknesses in planning process prior to theestablishment of Palestine foodstuff production enterprises. There is also a mismatching between markets need,production capacity, and process technology in the current enterprises. Sixty two of the responses said that they donot have any strategic objectives. More than forty per cent of the responses utilized less than fifty per cent of theirproduction lines.In order to treat these weaknesses the researcher introduces a framework for designing an Integrated ManufacturingSystem (IMS) for foodstuff enterprises in Palestine. The framework develops a tool to help manufacturing systemdesigners (1) clearly understand the different components and levels of the manufacturing system design, (2) linklow-level activities and decisions to high-level goals and requirements, (3) understand the interrelationships and theintegration among the different elements of a system design. Such manufacturing system enables a firm tosimultaneously achieve cost, quality, flexibility, and delivery responsiveness to the customer objectives. Theapplication section illustrates how the Integrated Manufacturing System Design (IMSD) can be applied throughconcurrent activities between its different functions and level